Thursday, August 23, 2007

Arm Falls Off

...Because of what bitterness does – causing us to fall short of the grace of God – we should consider it a bit further.

When you have been wronged, you have been wounded. When the wound hurts or throbs, that is not bitterness. But wounds need to be cleaned and dressed, and the bandages need to be changed regularly. If this does not happen, then the wound gets infected. Bitterness is that infection.

If the wound is kept clear of infection, then the wound heals, Perhaps there is a scar, and a story, but the wound really does heal. But if the wound is not kept clear of infection, then it stays tender, stays swollen, stays infected, and one day your arm falls off.

Now when your arm falls off, and someone asks what happened, it will not do to say, "Well, my third grade teacher humiliated me in front of the class," or "When I was in high school, the director’s daughter was chosen for the lead in the play instead of me," or even "My husband deserted me." Those are all the reasons for the wound. They are not really the reason your arm fell off.

Why were the bandages never changed? Why did you not take the antibiotics that were prescribed for you? Why would you not agree to let the nurse clean and dress the wound? The reason is that such a healthy response would temporarily hurt more than sitting in the dark, miserable, picking at it.

Of course, if they had not wronged you to begin with, none of this would have happened. And if they really sinned, God will hold them to account for their sin. You don’t need to worry about that. But just as He told them not to wrong you, so He told you to refrain from bitterness and resentment. Now when God identifies something as sin, should we repent of it, and walk away from it? Or do you agree with the one who wronged about that as well?